Kevin Durant Checks Nets Reporter After Tweet Commending Knicks’ ECF Appearance

Kevin Durant has been going back and forth on Twitter with Anthony Puccio, the reporter running the fan site Nets Daily.

Kevin Durant Checks Nets Reporter After Tweet Commending Knicks’ ECF Appearance

Kevin Durant (Image via Firstsportz)

The last 9 years and counting of NBA basketball have involved a number of stunning happenings. Just this past season has seen franchise superstar Luka Doncic get traded from his home team at the peak of his powers. A series of similarly seismic trades put together perhaps the most disappointing NBA team of all time – the 2020-22 Brooklyn Nets. Kevin Durant, as the centerpiece of the roster, has caught flak for their failure.

Kevin Durant has been exceedingly active on NBA Twitter of late. Over the past three months, Durant has talked about his proposed Celtics trade and hit back at disgruntled Warriors fans. He has also doled out praise to a Suns reporter and an NBA Twitter user for how they’ve engaged with basketball. Durant even roasted a Cavaliers fan for claiming he stopped LeBron James from winning more rings.

As his career has gone on, Durant has taken comfort from expressing his true feelings on NBA Twitter. He was once maligned for using burner accounts and getting into arguments with nobodies. But he has now been accepted as a man of the people, and is often admired for his candor on social media. The way he engages with the average basketball fan shows that he cares about them and the game more than others.

Durant has also used social media (mainly Twitter/X) to give pushback about NBA stories involving him. The four-time scoring champion is loath to take needless criticism lying down. When he comes across tweets that link him to unrelated happenings for clicks, Durant acts instead of taking it lying down. One such instance occurred today after Nets reporter Anthony Puccio contrasted the Knicks’ story to the Nets.

According to Puccio, the Knicks benefited a lot from having more team stability. He deemed their roster construction to be ‘organic’, in comparison to the Nets team with Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving.

Durant took exception to this wording, and for being linked to the Knicks’ roster construction in unrelated fashion.

“I don’t think the Knicks success has anything to do with me or Kyrie. An Organic nba team, what does that even mean in professional sports?”

Kevin Durant tweeted in response

The back and forth continued as Durant demanded accountability from Puccio for mentioning him and his team by name.

Durant ended the exchange by pointing out that his insistence on having a Twitter dialogue wasn’t indicative of any slight.

Kevin Durant could be on the move this summer

Kevin Durant has long been linked to a move away from the Phoenix Suns. The team has looked shorn of energy and zing in the 2024-25 season and could be on a downward spiral for a while. There does not seem to be a way for owner Mat Ishbia to turn the Suns into legitimate contenders in the near future.

With all the uncertainty around the roster, the most dispensable asset that the roster has is likely Durant himself. Devin Booker is a homegrown franchise star, and trading him away could alienate the fanbase. Bradley Beal is on a no-trade clause and would be viewed as a negative asset on the open market. None of their other players have any ability to command draft compensation as well as good players in a trade.

This would mark the second straight failed championship project for Durant since he moved away from Golden State in 2019. He is still playing at an All-NBA caliber level, and is still unguardable. But he does need to win more championships to cement himself as an all-time great alongside Curry and James.

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